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I would like to congratulate our colleagues for organizing an interesting, efficient and enjoyable conference in Philadelphia this past May. The theme “Preserving Memory: Documenting and Archiving Latin American Human Rights” was timely and of interest to us all. Many excellent presentations were held, thanks to the work of our past president Nerea Llamas. Many thanks as well to our excellent hosts, Joe Holub and David Murray of the University of Pennsylvania and Temple University libraries and our very generous sponsors.

Several important issues were expressed this year at the two Executive Board meetings, the Business meeting and at Town Hall. Executive Board Member-at-Large Sean Knowlton (Columbia University) presented a list of proposals compiled by Patricia Figueroa (Brown University) that represent concerns voiced by SALALM members in recent years:

that SALALM change its name to reflect the reality of the work we accomplish; i.e. a name that is more general in nature and by default more inclusive

that the SALALM conference be limited to 3 days instead of 5

that we eliminate panels and themes from our meeting so that we can devote more time to our committees, regional meetings and vendors

that we meet and celebrate SALALM in conjunction with LASA, mimicking the arrangement that MELA and MESA have for their yearly congresses. This arrangement would provide an outlet for SALALM members who must present a paper in order to receive funding to attend. The conference need not take place at the same hotel as LASA, but rather the same city and dates.

While some of these concerns have surfaced at various moments in our organization’s history, the present economic crisis has brought them to the fore once again. We are faced with a shrinking membership; our institutions provide less professional development funding than in the past; and conference costs are rising.

In order to address these proposals, I have named an ad-hoc Membership Survey Committee to collect information, opinions and ideas relating to the above issues. Members include Anne Barnhart (chair), David Block, Mary Jo Zeter, John Wright and Patricia Figueroa. Please respond thoughtfully to their survey which will be sent out in early fall.

A second committee will work concurrently with the Survey Committee to investigate the consequences, cost and feasibility of a name change for the organization. Ideas for new names or new meanings for our existing acronym will be explored. Should the membership agree on the desirability of a name change (via the survey process), the work of this committee will provide helpful information. The SALALM Name Change Committee includes Sócrates Silva, Melissa Gasparotto, Stephanie Miles and Sean Knowlton.

Treasurer Peter T. Johnson put forward a related proposal geared toward increasing membership in our organization. An initial SALALM scholarship of $1,000 will be awarded to a student enrolled in an MLS program (in the U.S.) who intends to work in the field of Latin American Studies, and who will join our organization.

In response to some of the concerns expressed above, I plan to experiment with the format of next year’s SALALM meeting. We will we return to a slightly more economical 4-day schedule; at the same time, I would like to create more time and space to work with each other and with our vendors, who are an integral part of our organization. I plan on repeating a version of the successful Libreros Workshop which was held in Philadelphia and organized by John Wright, Ellen Jaramillo and Stephanie Miles. Based on the feedback I heard, it provided a necessary forum for communicating information about the technological changes we face in our professions. Although I will continue to organize panels, workshops and committee meetings, there will be fewer of them. I encourage committees and affiliated groups who meet or work outside of our annual meeting to consider foregoing a meeting at SALALM if at all possible.

As I write this message, SALALM LVI is one short week away. Joe Holub, David Murray and I continue to finalize last minute details such as conference packets, room set-ups and menus. For those of you who enjoy statistics, there are 20 panels, 37 meetings and 6 miscellaneous sessions scheduled. It never ceases to amaze me that we carry out such a full schedule in just a few days! With regard to the program content, I draw your attention to the keynote address, “Forensic Archivists and Active Archives: Advancing the Cause of Human Rights in Latin America through Archival investigation,” which will be delivered by Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive. There is a wonderful selection of panels addressing memory and human rights as well as others exploring library trends and developments. This year we also have five panels dedicated to documentary screenings. I am very excited about the program and hope you will enjoy the content and mix of formats.

And let me take this opportunity to thank Joe Holub and David Murray for their hard work in planning the local arrangements for SALALM LVI. Local arrangements require a great deal of dedication and attention to detail. Joe and David have truly done their utmost to ensure a successful conference. It has been a great pleasure working with both of them; I couldn’t have asked for better partners in this venture.

In other news…

Encouraged by the membership, the SALALM Executive Board sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan voicing SALALM’s concern over proposed cuts to Title VI funding. Many SALALM member institutions benefit in a variety of ways from the Title VI program. Because of the short time frame, we needed to act quickly. My thanks to David Block for drafting the letter and to the other Executive Board members for quickly commenting and voting. As you know, the letter was sent on April 29th. Though there has been no news about Title VI funding yet, we hope that SALALM’s voice will be heard.

SALALM will host a booth at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans June 24-27, 2011. I encourage those of you who will attend to volunteer to staff the booth. In conjunction with ALA, SALALM has been invited to participate in the Spectrum Leadership Institute’s Professional Options Fair. The fair, which will take place on Thursday, June 23rd from 7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m. at the Royal Sonesta, is an opportunity for SALALM to outreach to Spectrum Scholars who are library school students from underrepresented groups. Both the booth and the Professional Options Fair are excellent opportunities to promote SALALM and its activities.

Congratulations to the newly elected SALALM officers, President-Elect, Martha Mantilla and Members at Large Paul Losch and Mary Jo Zeter. Welcome to the Executive Board! And, thank you to the Nominating Committee for once again gathering a great slate of candidates.

Finally, I am looking forward to reuniting with old friends and making new ones in Philadelphia. Planning the SALALM LVI program has been incredibly rewarding for me personally. I hope that you will be as pleased as I am with the results!